Friday, November 5, 2010

FFG--Out Standing, Outstanding

Preface: I started a "phone Bible study" with my heart-sister in Georgia last week, but yesterday, I overslept! And her toilet was leaking, so she was a little distracted. At 1:00 the realization hit that I never called her for our 6:30am (central time) Bible study hour. Big oops, but we both laughed over our circumstances, and had an impromptu 15-minute study instead of our usual hour.

That said--and keep trusting me that this really is a Farm Girls post--here is the passage we studied:

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened,

so that you will know what is the hope of His calling,

what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.

Dee and I stopped on the phrases surpassing greatness of His power and strength of His might. We guessed--correctly--that the word power was the Greek dounamis, from which we get our English dynamite. From the phrase strength of His might, we discovered that the word strength is also translated as dominion, and the word might is simply His strength. Slightly confusing, but I think the Lord (through Paul) is emphasizing the incredible power, might, and strength that He possesses. Look at what the Lord did, through His power:

He raised Christ from the dead

He seated Christ at His right hand

He seated Him far above all rule, authority, power, dominion, every name named

He seated Him in this age and in the one to come

He put all things in subjection to Christ

He made Him head over all things

He called the church the body of Christ

He calls the church His fullness

That's pretty powerful! After we talked about how the Lord should be preeminent in our lives, and that our life is not about us, but all about Him, and His being glorified, Dee commented about a book that she is reading by Blackaby (Chosen to be God's Prophet, about Samuel I think). She paraphrased that our desire is to do something great/incredible for God, when He wants simply our trust and obedience. He will cause efforts to succeed, or fail.

When Dee mentioned our desire to do something outstanding for God, I remembered something humorous my dad said: "I know this farmer out standing in his field." Or was it, "...outstanding in his field?" *wink*

Obviously, I would love to accomplish something outstanding for the Lord! But the Lord wants me to be out standing in my home, outstanding in my home: loving my husband, nurturing my children, and yes, doing the dishes. He will work what He desires in my life. I am to trust and obey.

So, if you ring my doorbell today, you will probably find me out standing in my kitchen. :)